PETA MATHIAS 'My life has begun again at 72'
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ|September 2022
The fabulous foodie reveals her fresh start in France - and why she's finally built up the courage to ditch her trademark red hair!
EMMA CLIFTON
PETA MATHIAS 'My life has begun again at 72'

As international A travel slowly resumes, there are Love, Actuallystyle airport scenes taking place all over the world as people are reunited with their loved ones after more than two years apart. But for food writer Peta Mathias, it was more of a reunion of self.

Since selling her Auckland home and building a three-level house in the southern French town of Uzès, the 72-year-old has spent her years split between Europe and New Zealand, running her travel tour company from both.

Then came COVID and she was grounded, like all of us, for two and a half years. It was only in June that she was able to return to France for the summer.

"I didn't know how I would feel when I came back here," she muses via Zoom from the bright, colourful lounge of her Uzès home. "There were a lot of questions in my mind, like, 'Have I lost this life forever? Is it sustainable? Can I still do it physically? Am I strong enough?' And as soon as I got here, I knew that I couldn't give it up. I slid back into my life here as if I'd never been away. As if nothing had happened.

"I coped very well, but over the past two and a half years, I feel like I have been in a low-level depression because of all the shocks that I and everyone else have had to suffer. Now I feel normal. I don't have any of the aches and pains that I usually have, and I reckon that's because I'm happy again."

The last time Peta was on the cover of The Australian Women's Weekly, it was in February 2020 and the photo shoot had taken place in this charming French town. It was a story about travel, evolution and all the possibilities of the year ahead. Peta had named 2020 "a year of change" and said she was going to be possibly making big shifts in her life.

When asked now what her 2020 was supposed to be like, she bursts out laughing.

Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY NZSe alt
PRETTY WOMAN
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

PRETTY WOMAN

Dial up the joy with a mood-boosting self-care session done in the privacy of your own home. It’s a blissful way to banish the winter blues.

time-read
3 mins  |
July 2024
Hitting a nerve
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Hitting a nerve

Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes could aid physical and mental wellbeing.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024
The unseen Rovals
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

The unseen Rovals

Candid, behind the scenes and neverbefore-seen images of the royal family have been released for a new exhibition.

time-read
2 mins  |
July 2024
Great read
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Great read

In novels and life - there's power in the words left unsaid.

time-read
2 mins  |
July 2024
Winter dinner winners
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Winter dinner winners

Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of budget-concious recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.

time-read
3 mins  |
July 2024
Winter baking with apples and pears
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Winter baking with apples and pears

Celebrate the season of apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the cold weather blues away.

time-read
7 mins  |
July 2024
The wines and lines mums
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

The wines and lines mums

Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July 2024
Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE

Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.

time-read
7 mins  |
July 2024
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN

When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START

Responsible for keeping the likes of Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis in shape, Malin Svensson is on a mission to motivate those in midlife to move more.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024